Security forces kill four suicide attackers, south of Salahuddin: Command

An Islamic State fighter carries his weapon in a fight against Iraqi troops

Salahuddin (IraqiNews.com) Security troops have killed four suicide attackers, south of Salahuddin province, a command said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Troops of Samarra Operations Command, composed of police, army and intelligence managed, today, to kill four suicide attackers in al-Kassarat region, southwest of Dujail town,” the statement said.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi announced, in December, full liberation of Iraqi lands, declaring end of war against IS members. In November, Abadi said his country has defeated Islamic State over the military level, but will declare final victory after desert areas are purged of militants.

Thousands of IS militants as well as Iraqi civilians were killed since the government campaign, backed by paramilitary troops and the coalition, was launched in October 2016 to fight the militant group.

Since then, forces took back the group’s former capital, Mosul, the town of Tal Afar, Kirkuk’s Hawija, and each of Annah, Rawa and Qaim in Anbar.

The war against IS has displaced nearly five million people, with tens of thousands of civilians and militants killed since the launch of the offensives to recapture occupied cities.

Violence in the country has surged further with the emergence of Islamic State extremist militants who proclaimed an “Islamic Caliphate” from Mosul in Iraq and Syria in 2014.